Sub Question

[RL89LXi]

Hey guys, just wanted to let you all know that yesterday I put in 2 10' MTX Thunder6000's in a sealed box running off an MTX4250D amp. These things are pounding. Installation and everything went fine. I have a question though. I now have 2 6.5 xplods in the front and 2 6x9 xplods in the back along with the subs. The subs' bass is great, but the speakers are not really loud enough anymore to keep up with the power of the bass. I have an AIWA CDC-MP3 headunit and was trying to decide if I should either upgrade that to something better hoping that it would put out more power, however the AIWA says it puts out 45x4, which isn't too bad. Or should I buy an amp for the xplods which are 35 watt RMS and 40 watt RMS? I'm leaning towards a new deck because my friend has a nice Pioneer and even at low volume on the headunit it puts out very clear loud music. Any opinions or advice? Thanks.

-Rob

[shepherd79]

i have alpine cdm-7871 deck, and i think it is the best one i had so far. I don't have to turn a lot to get a loud sound.
i think if you add 4 channel amp. that may help.

[Bobs89LXi]

I agree with Shepherd. The only way you are going to get your front and rear speakers to overcome the subs without major distortion is to buy a four channel amp to drive them. Even the best head units are rated at a maximum of 100 watts @ 4 ohms. That is total output. In four channel mode, what is actually getting to each channel is 25 watts (100 watts divided by 4). In two channel mode, it's 50 watts (100 watts divided by 2). The only way you are going to get true 100 watts per channel is with a separate amp. All head units have amplifier ICs (chips), not transistors as drivers, so they are very limited in their power handling capabilities. Consequently, they are easily overdriven, causing distortion.

[RL89LXi]

Anyone have any suggestiions for Amps to buy. The front 6.5 xplods have 35 RMS 150 max wattage, rear 6x9s are 40 rms 180 max watts. If there are any models that anyone thinks would go the best with these it would be a big help if they could let me know of some model numbers. I dont want to spend a ton of money, but I want to get an amp which isnt a POS either. Thanks for your help guys.

-Rob

[n88accordLX-i]

Head units dont put out anywhere near as much power as they say, look at eclipse decks, they dont even list their power ratings anymore, in the older manuals they used to list their power ratings at like 12 watts x 4 which is what about every deck puts out, i guarantee if you go get a 45x4 amp and compare it to a 45x4 deck, the amp will be MUCH MUCH better...my deck was rated at 45 x4 and i had an amp that did 60x2 to the front speakers and i could turn them all the way up with the amp and still sound clear, but with the deck i couldnt even go half way without soundin like shit,,,,,,sorry for my rant

[jclss99]

yeah, I have a punch 400.4 (shoulda got the power, has a better crossover, live and learn) U could prolly get by with like a 200.4 or something smaller even. I'd get a decent amp for your mids and highs as distortion there is easily heard. I think it was put best when it was mentioned that a 45x4 amp would be WAYYYY better thana 45x4 deck... deck amps suck and you can get speakers unbearably loud with even small amplifiers.

[TeKKnoTeKK]

Just make sure that if you do get an amp you look at a couple things......for your particular application you are going to want a 4 channel amp, two channels for both sets of speakers of course. But you also need to be sure that your deck has enough pre-outs for the amps. And depending on the wattage you are running to the subs I wouldn't get anything bigger than 200 watts total, that should be plenty